Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.
Snow is expected this afternoon along with a high near 30 degrees. Tonight the snow will continue with 2-4 inches of total accumulation possible and a low around 28. A winter weather advisory is in effect until 6 a.m.. Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy with a chance of snow early and a high near 27.
Top story
Ukrainians in Chicago protest Russian invasion: ‘Pray For Peace. Pray for Ukraine’
Waving flags of blue and yellow, about 100 Ukrainians gathered on the Harlem Avenue overpass Thursday morning to protest the Russian invasion of their homeland.
They were met with nonstop honks of approval from motorists on the Kennedy Expressway below.
“This is an existential battle for democracy, not simply for Ukraine, but all the values we hold very dear here in the West,” said Pavlo Bandriwsky, vice president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America Illinois Division. The organization is based at the Ukrainian Cultural Center on Chicago Avenue.
“I was talking to my niece who’s in Ukraine this morning, they’re hearing bombs going off. They live near the city of Lviv in western Ukraine not far from an airport that was targeted,” said Bandriwsky, a retired financial services executive from the Northwest Side.
“She’s OK but she has young kids and they’re all very traumatized,” he said.
About 54,000 people of Ukrainian heritage live in the Chicago area, according to the Census Bureau. Bandriwsky said a good portion of them live in the city, but also in Palatine and towns along Cumberland Road from Park Ridge to Elmwood Park.
Oleksiy Vynnytskyy, 28, an urgent care nurse from Wheeling, attended the protest with his sister, Anastasiya, and his wife and two kids.
“I don’t know what’s worse, being over there and being in danger or being here and knowing that we can’t do anything, really,” he said.
“This is not a war between the Russian people and our people. ... This is a war between one crazy guy and his group and our country,” he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mitch Dudek has more on how Chicagoans are responding here.
More news you need
- Gov. J.B. Pritzker noted his Ukrainian roots today while condemning Russia’s invasion of the eastern European nation, but he said everyone, regardless of origin, should oppose Putin’s use of force. Pritzker — whose great-grandfather fled the persecution of Jews in Kyiv in 1881 and later settled in Chicago — said that while he hopes military intervention can be avoided, the U.S. needs to “do everything we can to stop Russian aggression.”
- Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could raise gas prices by 50 cents a gallon, infuriating an already angry electorate and making a “hard hand” for Democrats even worse in this year’s elections, David Axelrod told our Fran Spielman today. The former Obama presidential adviser-turned-CNN commentator said it’s a “huge political problem” for President Joe Biden.
- A federal civil rights lawsuit filed today against the city claims its failure to implement a foot-pursuit policy for police was the driving force behind the fatal shooting of Anthony Alvarez last year. The lawsuit was filed by Giselle Higuera, the mother of Alvarez’s child. Higuera’s lawsuit also names as defendants the two officers who chased Alvarez, including Evan Solano, the officer who shot him.
- Pressed on whether a high-ranking police chief got favorable treatment, Chicago Police Supt. David Brown today distanced himself from the case and said he “wasn’t on the scene” when someone decided not to impound the chief’s car when her niece and a boyfriend were stopped with heroin found inside the vehicle. Cars are usually impounded during such arrests so they can be searched by police.
- The Chicago City Council yesterday authorized Mayor Lori Lightfoot to spend $700,000 to acquire the shuttered site of an Aldi grocery store in West Garfield Park that made a food desert even bigger. Lightfoot said Aldi’s mid-October closing of the 30-year-old store forced the city to acquire the site before having secured a new grocery tenant or developer that can attract a new full-service grocery.
- A union organizing drive among Starbucks workers that started locally at a downtown store has spread to four more locations in the Chicago area. Employees have filed petitions with the National Labor Relations Board seeking a union election as part of a national organizing effort with the Service Employees International Union.
- Jon Carr, who was hired as executive producer of Second City during a tumultuous time for the Chicago-based comedy company, has stepped down after just over a year on the job. In an email to staff yesterday, Julia Dumais Osborne, managing artistic director of the Second City Training Centre, said Carr left “due to changes in his personal life.”
A bright one
Emerson String Quartet — ‘the finest in the world’ — playing Chicago one last time
No objective, scientific tool exists to measure musical greatness, but many critics and audiences have concurred for several decades that the New York-based Emerson String Quartet is the finest such ensemble in the world.
To back up that assessment, one need look no further than the group’s myriad honors, which include nine Grammy Awards and three Gramophone Awards as well as the Avery Fisher Prize and Musical America’s Ensemble of the Year award.
But the Emerson’s days in the limelight will soon come to an end. The 46-year-old ensemble announced last year that it would retire from the stage, performing its final concert at New York’s Alice Tully Hall in October 2023.
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In the meantime, the Emerson is undertaking a kind of farewell tour, which includes what is billed as its final stop in Chicago — a concert tomorrow in DePaul University’s 505-seat Gannon Concert Hall.
According to Lawrence Dutton, the Emerson’s violist, the choice to quit performing was not an easy one. Spurring the decision more than anything was the desire to end on top and not fade into irrelevance as the group’s technical skills deteriorated.
“I’m very proud of what we have done,” he said, “and I mean that in the context of how we stand in this long, long tradition, which is a wonderful thing.”
Kyle MacMillan has more on the Emerson ahead of tomorrow’s performance here.
From the press box
- Former Bears general manager Ryan Pace found a landing spot in Atlanta, where he’s been hired as one of the Falcons’ new senior personnel directors.
- Cubs beat writer Maddie Lee looks at how prospect Caleb Kilian is working to hone his arsenal after joining the organization in the Kris Bryant trade.
- Gyms across the area will be filling up tomorrow night for IHSA state basketball regional championship games in all classes. Joe Henricksen previews the biggest matchups, including Glenbrook North-Evanston and Kenwood-Oak Lawn.
- The girls basketball state playoffs are going on now, too, with sectional finals tomorrow. Here’s the schedule for the girls state tourneys.
Your daily question ☕
Which Black Chicagoan do you think deserves their own statue here, if they don’t already have one?
Email us (please include your first name and where you live) and we might include your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
Yesterday we asked you: What is the best part about wintertime in Chicago?
Here’s what some of you said…
“The snow leaves a layer of calm over the city and Lake Michigan is beautiful as it freezes.” — Patti Schultz
“The wine and the food, good books and music venues!” — Sherry Wilcox
“Clearing the snow, neighbors helping each other. Then enjoying a warm cider.” — Kathy Hicks
“The neighborhood bars you can walk to when your car is stuck in its parking spot.” — Jill Middendorf
“The lights at the zoo in Lincoln Park is a family favorite. If you’ve never been, you gotta go. Beautiful view of the city. Beautiful lights to commemorate the holidays! Love it.” — Bob Shaw
“Fresh snowfall is beautiful. Then, I got nothing.” — Olivette Kelly
“Seeing the creative ways residents call ‘dibs’ for their parking spots.” — Mary Jo Kerber
“The cold air is so clean and fresh! And I’m not sweaty all day — I hate summer.” — Jean Dorsey Johnson
“If you can see the business district covered in snow with no tracks in it and no one around — it happened once in my life — it is just plain beautiful!” — Ryan Moran
“I love Chicago in the winter. Cozy, quiet. Grabbing a cocktail somewhere.” — Bob-Barb Reed
“Every winter, all my neighbors shovel out a spot to put free lawn chairs out for the community! One year, I pieced together a whole matching patio set!” — Heather Hornak
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